Article published in:
Diachronic Construction GrammarEdited by Jóhanna Barðdal, Elena Smirnova, Lotte Sommerer and Spike Gildea
[Constructional Approaches to Language 18] 2015
► pp. 81–106
Constructionalization and constructional change
The role of context in the development of constructions
Elena Smirnova | Leibniz Universität Hannover
In recent constructional approaches to language change, the distinction between constructionalization and constructional changes has been made (cf. e.g. Rostila 2004; Noël 2007; Traugott & Trousdale 2013; Traugott this volume). The term constructionalization generally refers to the formation of new constructions, while diverse changes in existing constructions are labeled as constructional changes. This chapter focuses on the impact of context in the development of new constructions. It proposes to model constructionalization as a gradual accumulation of contextual restrictions followed by a structural reorganization of language material, whereby pieces of relevant contextual information are integrated into a new construction type. Two case studies and some further examples from the literature will demonstrate how the proposed model accounts for the development of new constructions from different domains of grammar.
Published online: 30 July 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.18.03smi
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.18.03smi
References
References
Askedal, J.O.
(1984) Grammatikalisierung und Auxiliarisierung im sogenannten ‚bekommen/kriegen/erhalten-Passiv‘ des Deutschen. Kopenhagener Beiträge zur Germanistischen Linguistik, 22, 5–47.
(2005) Grammatikalisierung und Persistenz im deutschen Rezipienten-Passiv mit bekommen/kriegen/erhalten
. In T. Leuschner, T. Mortelmans, & S. De Groodt (Eds.), Grammatikalisierung im Deutschen (pp. 211–228). Berlin: de Gruyter. 
Bader, M.
(2012) The German bekommen passive: A case study on frequency and grammaticality. Linguistische Berichte, 231, 249–298.
Barðdal, J.
(2008) Productivity: Evidence from case and argument structure in Icelandic. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Barðdal, J., & Chelliah, S.
(Eds.) (2009) The role of semantic, pragmatic and discourse factors in the development of case. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Bergs, A., & Diewald, G.
Bybee, J.
(2003) Mechanisms of change in grammaticization: The role of frequency. In B.D. Joseph, & R.J. Janda (Eds.), The handbook of historical linguistics (pp. 602–623). Oxford: Blackwell.
(2006) From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition. Languages 82(4), 711–733.
(2010) Language, usage and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bybee, J., & Cacoullos, R.T.
(2009) The role of prefabs in grammaticization: How the particular and the general interact in language change. In R. Corrigan, E. Moravcsik, H. Ouali, & K. Wheatley (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 university of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Symposium on Formulaic Language (pp. 187–217). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Cristofaro, S.
(2012) Cognitive explanations, distributional evidence, and diachrony. In N. Gisborne, & W. Hollmann (Eds.), Theory and data in cognitive linguistics. Special issue of Studies in Language, 36(3), 645–670.
Croft, W.
(1998) Linguistic evidence and mental representations. Cognitive Linguistics, 9, 151–173.
(2001) Radical construction grammar: Syntactic theory in typological perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Croft, W., & Cruse, D.A.
(2004) Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
De Smet, H.
(2012) The course of actualization. Language, 88, 601–633.
Diewald, G.
(1997) Grammatikalisierung: Eine Einführung in Sein und Werden grammatischer Formen. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
(2002) A model for relevant types of contexts in grammaticalization. In I. Wischer, & G. Diewald (Eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization (pp. 103–120). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2006) Context types in grammaticalization as constructions. In D. Schönefeld (Ed.), Constructions. Special Volume 1: Constructions all over - case studies and theoretical implications. [www.constructions-online.de]
(2008) The catalytic function of constructional restrictions in grammaticalization. In E. Verhoeven, S. Skopeteas, Y.-M. Shin, Y. Nishina, & J. Helmbrecht (Eds.), Studies on grammaticalization (pp. 219–240). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Diewald, G., & Smirnova, E.
(2010) Evidentiality in German. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
(2012) Paradigmatic integration: The fourth stage in an expanded grammaticalization scenario. In K. Davidse, T. Breban, L. Brems, & T. Mortelmans (Eds.), Grammaticalization and language change: New reflections (pp. 111–134). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Fillmore, C., Kay, P., & O’Connor, M.C.
(1988) Regularity and idiomaticity in grammatical constructions: The case of let alone
. Language, 64(3), 501–538.
Fried, M.
(2008) Constructions and constructs: Mapping a shift between predication and attribution. In A. Bergs, & G. Diewald (Eds.), Constructions and language change, 47–79.
(2009) Representing contextual factors in language change: Between frames and constructions. In A. Bergs, & G. Diewald (Eds.), Context and constructions, 63–94.
Goldberg, A.
(2006) Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harris, A., & Campbell, L.
(1995) Historical syntax in cross-linguistic perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Haspelmath, M.
(2004) On directionality in language change with particular reference to grammaticalization. In O. Fischer, M. Norde, & H. Perridon (Eds.), Up and down the cline: The nature of grammaticalization (pp. 17–44). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Heine, B.
(2002) On the role of context in grammaticalization. In I. Wischer, & G. Diewald (Eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization (pp. 83–101). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hilpert, M.
(2013) Corpus-based approaches to constructional change. In G. Trousdale, & Th. Hoffmann (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of construction grammar (pp. 458–477). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Himmelmann, N.
(2004) Lexicalization and grammaticalization: Opposite or orthogonal? In W. Bisang, N.P. Himmelmann, & B. Wiemer (Eds.), What makes grammaticalization - A look from its fringes and its components (pp. 21–42). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hopper, P.
(1991) On some principles of grammaticalization. In E.C. Traugott, & B. Heine (Eds.), Approaches to grammaticalization, Vol. I (pp. 17–36). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hopper, P., & Traugott, E.C.
(2003) Grammaticalization. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Israel, M.
(1996) The way constructions grow. In A.L. Goldberg (Ed.), Conceptual structure, discourse and language (pp. 217–230). Stanford: CSLI Publications.
Kuteva, T.
(2004) Auxiliation: An enquiry into the nature of grammaticalization. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Langacker, R.W.
(1987) Foundations of cognitive grammar. Vol. I: Theoretical prerequisites. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
(2008) Cognitive grammar: A basic introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Leirbukt, O.
(1997) Untersuchungen zu bekommen-Passiv im heutigen Deutsch. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Noël, D.
(2007) Diachronic construction grammar and grammaticalization theory. Functions of Language, 14, 177–202.
Rostila, J.
(2004) Lexicalization as a way to grammaticalization. In F. Karlsson (Ed.), Proceedings of the 20th Scandinavian conference of linguistics. http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/kielitiede/20scl/Rostila.pdf.
Smirnova, E.
(2006) Die Entwicklung der Konstruktion würde + Infinitiv im Deutschen. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Stathi, K.
(2010) Is German gehören an auxiliary? The grammaticalization of the construction gehören + participle II. In K. Stathi, E. Gehweiler, & E. König (Eds.), Grammaticalization: Current views and issues (pp. 323–342). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Timberlake, A.
(1977) Reanalysis and actualization in syntactic change. In C. Li (Ed.), Mechanisms of syntactic change (pp. 141–177). Austin, Texas: University of Texas.
Traugott, E.C.
(2008) Grammaticalization, constructions and the incremental development of language: Suggestions from the development of degree modifiers in English. In R. Eckardt, G. Jäger, & T. Veenstra (Eds.), Variation, selection, development: Probing the evolutionary model of language change (pp. 219–250). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Traugott, E.C., & Richard, B.D.
(2002) Regularity in semantic change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Traugott, E.C., & Trousdale, G.
(2010) Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization: How do they intersect? In E.C. Traugott, & G. Trousdale (Eds), Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization (pp. 19–44). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2013) Constructionalization and constructional changes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Trousdale, G.
(2008) Constructions in grammaticalization and lexicalization: Evidence from the history of a composite predicate construction in English. In G. Trousdale, & N. Gisborne (Eds.), Constructional approaches to English grammar (pp. 33–67). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
(2010) Issues in constructional approaches to grammaticalization. In K. Stathi, E. Gehweiler, & E. Konig (Eds.), Grammaticalization: Current views and issues (pp. 51–71). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2012) Theory and data in diachronic construction grammar: The case of the what with construction. In N. Gisborne, & W. Hollmann (Eds.), Theory and data in cognitive linguistics. Special issue of Studies in Language, 36(3), 576–602.
Wegener, H.
(1985) ‘Er bekommt widersprochen‘: Argumente für die Existenz eines Dativpassivs im Deutschen. Linguistische Berichte, 96, 127–139.
Cited by
Cited by other publications
Flach, Susanne
2020.
In Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 27],
► pp. 46 ff.
Smirnova, Elena
2015. When secondary grammaticalization starts: a look from the constructional perspective.
Language Sciences 47 ► pp. 215 ff.
Smirnova, Elena & Lotte Sommerer
2020.
In Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar [Constructional Approaches to Language, 27],
► pp. 2 ff.
Zhan, Fangqiong & Elizabeth Closs Traugott
2015. The constructionalization of the Chinese cleft construction.
Studies in Language 39:2 ► pp. 459 ff.
Zhan, Fangqiong & Elizabeth Closs Traugott
2019. The development of the Chinese copula shì construction.
Functions of Language 26:2 ► pp. 139 ff.
Zhan, Fangqiong & Elizabeth Closs Traugott
2020. A study of the development of the Chinese correlative comparative construction from the perspective of
constructionalization.
Diachronica 37:1 ► pp. 83 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 april 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.